1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light control unit, a projector, and a method of manufacturing the light control unit.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a projector including a light source unit, a light-modulating unit configured to modulate light emitted from the light source unit, and a projection optical unit configured to project modulated optical flux is known. Known examples of such a projector include a projector provided with a light control unit arranged between the light source unit and the light-modulating unit, and configured to control the amount of light incident on the light-modulating unit to adjust luminance of an image to be projected (For Example, see JP-A-2010-217651).
The light control unit disclosed in JP-A-2010-217651 includes a pair of light-shielding members and a rotating mechanism. The rotating mechanism includes a motor, a transmitting unit to which the rotation of the motor is transmitted, and a pair of drive gears rotating in a direction opposite to each other by a rotational force transmitted by the transmitting unit. The drive gears are provided so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation extending in a direction orthogonal to a center axis of the optical flux passing therethrough and, in addition, support the light-shielding members, respectively. When the drive gears are rotated, end portions of the respective light-shielding members move toward each other. Accordingly, the respective light-shielding members are arranged within a passage area of the optical flux, and consequently, at least part of the optical flux is shielded. In this manner, when light shielding by the respective light-shielding members is performed, the amount of light incident on the light-modulating unit is reduced, and the amount of light (luminance) of the image to be formed by the light-modulating unit is adjusted.
Here, in the light control unit disclosed in JP-A-2010-217651, in a state in which the respective light-shielding members are inserted into the passage area of the optical flux to a maximum extent (a state in which the light-shielding amount becomes maximum, hereinafter, referred to as totally-closed state), there may occur a case where the respective light-shielding members aggregate each other due to a dimensional tolerance of the light-shielding members. Specifically, in the light control unit designed so that a gap between the light-shielding members in the totally-closed state becomes small in order to further increase the light-shielding amount, a probability of hitting of the light-shielding members against each other due to variations in component dimensions disadvantageously increases.